Tennessee football: Vols top 30 players since 1998 national championship

The Derek Dooley years are ones to forget. Antonio Richardson is a guy who was unfortunate enough to play through three-straight 5-7 seasons. But he was a staple on the Tennessee football offensive line through those years, so we can’t ignore what he did for the Vols, even if his team did not come through for him.

Richardson was one of the top recruits of the Vols’ 2011 class and immediately became a contributor for Jim Chaney and Derek Dooley. Despite not starting as a freshman, he played in all 12 games.

Then as a sophomore, he exploded onto the scene. Richardson was a key part of that record-setting offense that had no defensive help whatsoever. One notable performance from him came when the Vols visited the South Carolina Gamecocks. Derek Dooley still had a chance to keep his job if he got a signature win, and this would be it.

In that game, Richardson shut down Jadeveon Clowney for 58 minutes. Seriously, the guy did nothing. Only on the final drive, with a chance to win the game, did Clowney get by him for a play. That play just happened to be a strip-sack on Tyler Bray. But before that, he had done more than enough to earn national praise.

The next year, Richardson was part of an elite offensive line that helped carry the Vols through another difficult season under first-year head coach Butch Jones. He did what he could, but it wasn’t enough. Still, he was a back-to-back All-SEC and able to leave early for the NFL. However, persistent nagging injuries forced him to retire. That doesn’t change his success on Rocky Top, though.